Chapter 12, Section 5
Madison
One of the earliest occupants of Holland lands in this township was Philip
Essex, who was first assessed in Toby township, with one cow, at $10, in 1806;
the next year with 200 acres “imp.,” and one cow, at $36, and
thereafter with 100 acres “imp.,” and one cow for several years, and
then purchased the land. Benjamin B. Cooper conveyed to him ninety-seven acres
of allotment 6, tract 287, warrant 2872, called “Burton Hall,” May
20, 1817, for $97. It was that part of “Burton Hall” adjoining the
Nicholson tract, No. 1150, on the north, south of Red Bank creek, and about
three miles from its mouth. It was noted on the assessment for the next year
as transferred to Sommers Baldwin, who probably did consummate his contract
with Essex, by paying the purchase money before his death, for Essex, April
17, 1827, then of Morgan county, Ohio, conveyed it to Robert Brown, who
conveyed it, June 20, for $200, to Fred�k Crisman, to some of whose heirs it
now belongs. It was adjoined by allotment 3 on the north, which was first
occupied, if not owned, by Francis Stanford, who was first assessed with
twenty acres of it, two horses and two cows, at $55, in 1807; with 130 acres
in and for several years after 1810, and then 200 acres until 1820, and then
his widow with that number until 1823, when it appears to have been
transferred to Alexander Duncan, who was then first assessed with the same and
fifty acres additional, two horses and two cows, at $316. Cooper conveyed 224
acres, parts of “Burton Hall,” and tracts 284 and 285, covered by
warrants 2876 and 2875, to Duncan, January 23, 1834, for $280, portions or all
of which still belong to his heirs. When he first settled here there were not
more than six or eight other permanent settlers within the limits of this
township. Allotment No. 1 is a parallelogram in the northwestern part of the
tract, now in Clarion county, and was one of the tracts purchased by Philander
Raymond for the Great Western Iron Works, at Brady�s Bend. Allotment 2, 170
acres, adjoined No. 1 on the east, and it appears from the map of original
tracts, though not from the tax-list of Toby township, to have been occupied
by Harman Farber. So, also allotment No. 4 140 acres, chiefly in the
northwestern bend of the Red Bank, which adjoined No. 1 on the south, and both
1 and 4, adjoining the Nicholson-Hamilton-Reynolds tract, No. 1151, on the
west, appear to have been occupied by John Davis. It was, however, conveyed by
Willink & Co. to Jacob Christman, as containing 157 acres and 41 perches,
November 22, 1834, for $251. Christman having died intestate, it became vested
in Jacob H. Christman, whose guardian, by virtue of an order of the orphans�
court of this county, conveyed it to John M. Christman, October 3, 1874, for
$2,500, who, with Ann Craig, late the widow of Jacob Christman, conveyed it to
Alexander Reynolds, October 5, for $5,000, and it is now a part of the present
Red Bank Furnace property. Allotment 5, 200 acres, in the broad, deep bend of
the Red Bank, now in Clarion county, was settled by Fleming Davidson about
1806. He was first assessed the next year with it and two horses, at $266. Not
having perfected his title to it, Willink & Co. conveyed it, as containing
201 acres and 35 perches, to John Reed, November 17, 1837, for $301.87. The
heretofore-mentioned Indian trail from the mouth of Mahoning via Dogwood
corner in “Springfield,” and along the ridge, traversed the central
portion of allotment 6 and the western portion of allotment 3 of “Burton
Hall,” a short distance east of the present public road from Duncanville
to Lawsonham. Willink & Co. conveyed 111 acres and 96 perches to Hugh C.
Jackson, March 29, 1849, for $111.50. Willink & Co. conveyed 146 acres and
44 perches partly of “Burton Hall” and of tract No. 288, warrant No.
2871, to Alexander Duncan, November 24, 1837, for $109.87, and 254 acres of
the latter tract, March 10, 1840, for $392.25. Duncan�s executors conveyed
190 acres of the latter tract to George Duncan, June 5, 1851, which was, after
his death, awarded to A. McNickle, who conveyed it as containing 201 acres and
154 perches to D. C. Collingwood, May 7, 1870, for $5,600, to whom 196 acres
are assessed in 1876 at $2,352. Colwell & Co. conveyed 50 acres and 95
perches of this tract to Samuel Balsiger, June 22, 1849, for $20.50.Adjoining “Burton Hall” on the north were the Holland tracts 284
and 285, covered by warrants Nos. 2876 and 2875, with 300 acres partly of
each, two horses and three cattle. David Lawson was first assessed in 1812 at
$300, to whom Cooper conveyed 454 acres, June 23, 1824, for $500. Lawson
resided on the western most of those tracts when he was a member of the house
of representatives of this state, from Armstrong county, in 1824-5 and in
1828-9. He subsequently conveyed portions of the land embraced in that
purchase to his sons, Robert D. and John Lawson. The present town of Lawsonham
is situated, probably on tract No. 284, on the north or Clarion side of the
Red Bank. There was a small portion of this parcel on the south side of the
Red Bank, containing about five acres, which was sold as unseated for taxes
assessed on it to Lawson�s heirs, and which Thomas McMasters, treasurer of
this county, conveyed to Robert Lawson Brown, June 19, 1854; the latter to
Hunter Orr, January 17, 1861, for $100; and he to George W. Bain, November 9,
1868, for $300. This little parcel now belongs to the Brookville Oil company,
on which they drilled an unproductive oil well. The first conveyance of any
part of this tract was of 151 acres of allotment 1, in the northwestern part,
by Willink & Co. to Jacob Bowser, of Washington county, Maryland, December
27, 1829, for $110. It does not appear from the assessment list that he ever
resided on this parcel. It has nevertheless been known for many years as the
“Bowser Flat.” He having died intestate, without issue, his father
and next of kin conveyed it to John A. Colwell & Co., March 26 and October
11, 1855, and they to Peter Shoemaker, September 1, 1859, for $1,200, and he
to the present owner of the main portion of it, Joseph B. Shoemaker, June 10,
1869, for $1,800.In the southern part of this township, between the heretofore-mentioned
tracts covered by a warrant to Joseph Coosh and the tract of vacant land
covered by the patent to Jacob Moyers, was a Holland tract No. 318, warrant to
Le Roy & Co., No. 3001, which was not placed on the unseated list of Red
Bank township until 1816. Its first white settler appears to have been Philip
Anthony, who was first assessed in 1814 with two horses and two cows, at $12,
and the next year with 100 acres as an improvement, one horse and one cow, at
$41. Proceedings to dispossess him were instituted soon after the company�s
agent ascertained that he had settled on it, in 1817-18, while Philip Mechling
was sheriff, during the pendency of which Anthony died. Portions of it may
have been occupied by settlers during the next quarter century. Willink &
Co. conveyed 148 acres and 147 perches of allotment 3 to Jeremiah Bonner, June
28, 1843, for $149; 113 acres of allotment 6, in the southwestern part, to
Jacob Moyers, December 9, for $71; to James Anthony 183 acres and 80 perches
of allotment 2, in the southeastern part August 12, 1846, for $202; to
Reynolds & Richey, 122 acres and 22 perches of allotment 4 in the southern
part, June 5, 1846, for $115, which had previously been occupied by I. M.
Sparr, and 72 acres and 136 perches, November 24, 1848, for $36.50, the former
of which parcels, being partly in Madison and partly in Pine township, they
conveyed to George Reedy April 2, 1861, for $1,000, on which, near the mouth
of a run emptying into the Mahoning from the northwest, a gristmill was
erected in 1874, which was first assessed in 1875. A considerable portion of
this tract (318) is now included in the Stewardson Furnace propertyContiguous to that tract on the north was the main portion of tract No.
316, covered by warrant No. 2865. Willink & Co. conveyed 103 acres and 13
perches of the east end of allotments 4 and 6, to Joseph Moorhead, November
30, 1836, for $103.50; to George Nulf, 108 acres and 41 perches, June 5, 1837,
for $108.35, which the latter conveyed to David Yuant (who had settled on it
in 1839), May 17, 1841, for $550, and he to Samuel Myers, 180 acres and 34
perches, May 14, 1864, for $1,700. Isaac E. Shoemaker opened a store on this
parcel, with which he was first assessed in 1868. Here, too, has sprung up the
little town of Centerville, containing a dozen or more buildings, among which
is one of the public schoolhouses of this township. It is said that this town
was named Centerville because its position is about central on one of the
routes between Kellersburgh in this and Oakland in Mahoning township. Mail
matter from several postoffices was brought for awhile by private conveyances
to Shoemaker�s store for persons living at Centerville and its vicinity, for
which reason it is noted on the township map of 1876 as “Private P.
O.”12 Willink & Co. conveyed 193 acres of allotment 2 to
Jeremiah Bonner, August 5, 1840, for $463, which he conveyed to Thomas Black
twelve days afterward, for $1,300. Willink & Co. conveyed to George W.
Truitt 138 acres and 148 perches off the east end of allotments 3 and 5, March
7, 1859, for $163.47, on which is his present homestead. The northeastern part
of this tract was formerly occupied by George Painter, who came here from one
of the Wistar tracts, north of the Red Bank, in 1833, with a portion of which
and of the Joseph Cook tract he was assessed for several years, but the
records do not show that he perfected his tittle to either of these parcels. A
glance at the township map shows that various parts of this tract are
comparatively well populated.Next north of the foregoing was tract No. 309, covered by warrant No. 2864,
of which Willink & Co. conveyed 170 acres and 131 perches, parts of
allotments 4 and 6, to Daniel Reedy, November 20, 1837, for $178.75; to James
Delp 180 acres and 18 perches of the same allotments, February 17, 1840, for
$177, and he to Peter George, May 1, for $810.47; to Reynolds & Richey 95
� acres off another part of this tract, November 4, 1848, for $95.50; to
Thomas McKee, 207 acres and 120 perches of allotment 1, February 28, 1846, for
$208; to Jacob Williams 190 acres of allotment 5, March 10, 1849, for $199; to
Samuel Rhodes 175 acres and 140 perches of allotment 2, May 25, 1840, for
$175.80, and he to George Nulf 50 acres and 80 perches, September 20, 1841,
for $50.80; Willink & Co. to Samuel Balsiger 178 acres and 131 perches of
allotments 4 and 6, June 17, 1840, for $178.75.Next north of the foregoing tract was No. 290, warrant No. 2852. Willink
&Co., conveyed 135 acres and 96 perches of allotment 1 to Reynolds &
Richey, March 8, 1844, for $300; 121 acres 10 perches to William Paine, June
18, 1845, for $74.11, with 60 acres of which he was first assessed in 1840;
and he to John and Jacob Pence, present owners, the same, December 29, 1859,
for $1,100; 62 acres and 40 perches, the same day, to Peter G. Reed, for
$37.98; 10 � acres of allotment 1 of this tract, and allotment 3 of the
contiguous tract No. 382 to Robert Drain, September 14, 1846, with which he
was first assessed, at $160, in 1840; B. B. Cooper�s executor conveyed 150
acres and 40 perches to George C. Nulf, February 15, 1853, for $300.50, and he
conveyed 75 acres and 20 perches to John Bish, September 17, for $751, with
which the latter had been first assessed in 1839, at $75. Cooper�s executor
conveyed 253 � acres of allotment 2 to Anderson, David J. and James A.
Truitt, November 17, 1855, for $800, with which Anderson had been first
assessed in 1837 at $370.50, and his father, Thomas Truitt, with one cow at
$8. A part of this parcel now belongs to Anderson Truitt�s heirs.Next north was tract No. 282, warrant No. 2848, the northeastern portion of
which was in what is now Clarion county. It was skirted on the north by the
eastern half of “J. Maxwell�s, 400 acres, Improvement.” The
latter, as represented on the map of original tracts, was a notably long and
narrow parallelogram, which extended from the original line between Toby and
Red Bank townships to the western line of the “W. & R. White”
tract, thirty or forty rods east of the Leatherwood, by which it and allotment
2 of tract 282 were traversed.Digressing somewhat some distance north from the mouth of Leatherwood,
David Shields settled in 1810 on vacant land, with 200 acres of which he was
then assessed, and some years afterward with a less quantity, until 1834,
after which his name does not appear on the tax-list of Red Bank township.
Tradition, which appears to be well authenticated, says that one of his sons,
when five years of age, was captured or kidnapped by the Indians who took him
to some point within what are now the limits of Jefferson county and
elsewhere. Nineteen years afterward his father, having ascertained where he
was, and some others who aided him, succeeded in effecting the rescue and
return home of the captive. The latter remained there but a week or ten days.
He said there was a leadmine near the mouth of Leatherwood, and promised to
point it out to his brothers, but did not. Subsequent diligent but vain
searches were made for it. Having married a squaw and having become fond of
Indian life, the home of his parents became irksome to him, so he escaped one
night with a party of Indians who were whooping around his father�s house,
and never returned.One of the earliest settlers on tract No. 282 was John Switzer, who was
first assessed with 100 acres of allotment 3, 1 horse and cow, at $338, in
1837. He does not appear to have perfected his title, for Willink & Co.
conveyed the 156 acres and 110 perches with which he was last assessed in 1841
to Owen Meredith, August 12, 1845, for $314, which is now owned by Thomas
Meredith, which is assessed this year (1876) at $1,248.The earliest permanent white settler on tract 282 appears to have been
Philip Bish, who was first assessed with 70 acres of it and 1 horse, in 1817,
at $72, which quantity of land and 17 acres more Willink & Co. conveyed to
him August 23, 1847, for $87.George Kogh was first assessed with 50 acres in that part of allotment 1 in
the deep northwesterly bend of the Red Bank, 1 sawmill, 1 yoke of oxen, and 1
cow, in 1830, at $146.25, to whom Willink & Co. conveyed 68 acres and 60
perches, July 12, 1848, for $51. This point is called “Broken Rock.”
There is a small parcel of this allotment in the deep bend of the creek
belonging to the Broken Rock Oil Company, who several years ago drilled a
well, striking a moderate vein of gas, but not a paying quantity of oil. Kogh
conveyed 14 acres of his parcel to Mary Bleakney July 4, 1862, for $50, which
she conveyed to the present owner James Courson, March 20, 1871, for $305.
John Payne was first assessed with 120 acres, 1 yoke of oxen and 1 cow, in
1838, at $154, the land being then valued at 75 cents an acre. Willink &
Co. conveyed 198 acres of allotments 1 and 3, September 9, 1847, for $250. He
died intestate. His son, Alexander B. Paine, conveyed 120 acres of this parcel
to Mary Thompson, August 13, 1860, for $1,240, who conveyed 20 acres and 73
perches thereof to James Courson, May 5, 1873, for $200.Passing down the left bank of the creek, tract No. 289, covered by warrant
No. 2859, is reached. Willink & Co. conveyed 175 acres and 24 perches of
allotment 6, the southeastern one, to George Arnold, October 3, 1835, for
$109.46. Willink & Co. conveyed 250 acres of allotments 2 and 4 to Jacob
F. Keller, April 8, 1841, for $156.73, in pursuance of a previous agreement to
sell and purchase. Keller having agreed to sell 200 acres of his parcel to
Joseph Sowash, January 18, 1838, and Sowash having agreed, June 15, 1841, to
sell the same to Charles Shunk, and the latter and Alexander Reynolds having
entered into an agreement of copartnership, July 3, for purchasing the same
and to erect thereon a furnace for the manufacture of pig-iron from the ore
under the name and style of Reynolds & Shunk, Keller conveyed to them,
July 3, the 250 acres and 123 perches which he had purchased from Willink
& Co., for $752, which thus became the parcel on which Reynolds &
Shunk erected the Old Red Bank Furnace in 1841. Shunk retired soon after the
furnace went into blast, and was succeeded by David Richey. The firm name was
then Reynolds & Richey until the furnace ceased to be operated in 1853. It
was a steam, cold-blast, charcoal furnace, 9 feet in the bosh by 32 feet high,
and made, on an average, 50 tons of pig metal a week, giving employment, on an
average, to 150 persons, and was in the end a source of profit to its
proprietors, who purchased a large quantity of land in the circumjacent
region, considerable portions of which they have sold at a reasonable advance.Contiguous to that tract were other Holland Company tracts, Nos. 283 and
288, covered by warrants Nos. 2847 and 2876, partly in what is now Clarion
county. Willink & Co. conveyed 1509 acres and 31 perches, parts of them,
and No. 289, to the late Judge Buffington, October 15, 1845, for $1,131, 776
acres and 135 perches of which in this county he conveyed to Reynolds and
Richey, fifteen days later, for $3,395.68, which of course became a part of
the furnace property, the greatly enhanced value of which was attributable to
the successful operation of the old Red Bank Furnace. The present Red Bank
Furnace � which is, so to speak, a descendant of the old one � was erected
by Alexander Reynolds and the late Thomas McCullough, in 1858, on the tract
originally owned by James Watterson, about 300 yards above the mouth of Red
Bank, in Clarion county, just below the neck of Brady�s Bend, a large
portion of its supplies being obtained from this county. It is the first
coke-furnace near the Allegheny river. The proprietors met with some
difficulty in finding a ready market on this side of the mountains for their
coke-made iron. Its present owners are Reynolds & Moorhead. Its product
has been from 90 to 105 tons a week of gray mill metal, wasting less than 6
per cent in puddling, with coke made from the Upper Freeport coalbed coal and
buhrstone ore and limestone, all mined in the hillsides back of the furnace.
The stack is 39 feet and 8 inches high, and 11 feet across the boshes, with a
square-cut stone base and a round looped cylinder, of 3 feet brick wall, with
18 inches lining and 6 inches packing between. The fuel used in 1865 was
one-half coke and one-half coal, in alternate charges, thus: First charge, raw
coal, 10 bushels; ore 633 lbs.; limestone, 253 lbs.; three of these making a
charge. Second charge: three times 10 bushels coke and 633 lbs. Ore, and 253
lbs. limestone. The upright furnace engine worked 30 lbs. steam, the gauge
stood between 3 � and 4 lbs. pressure on the cylinder; a very beautiful
engine, with a 28-inch steam cylinder, mounted endwise on a 5 � feet blowing
cylinder, the stroke common to both being 4 � feet. The gases are taken off
on each side of the tunnel-head some feet down, and introduced beneath the
hot-blast house and boilers, standing on a terrace about 6 feet above the
casting floor, but under the same roof. The length of the air cylinder is 20,
and its diameter 10 feet. The three boilers are 3 by 36 feet, with an extra
flue boiler in case of accident. The coke is shot upon high screens; the raw
coal is deposited on the stockyard floor, part of which is used for a
calcining yard.13Adjoining tract 289 on the south was No. 310, covered by warrant No. 2860.
Peter and David Bish appear to have been first assessed with 166 acres in the
southeastern part of it, and one cow, in 1828, at $91. Willink & Co.
conveyed to the former 186 acres of allotment 6, February 1, 1830, for
$116.25, 50 acres and 106 perches of which he conveyed to Samuel Bish, March
15, 1844, who conveyed the same to the present owner, Thomas Truitt, Jr., June
21, 1847, for $400. They conveyed 121 acres of the northern part of allotment
2 to Nicholas Keller, June 3, 1834, for $75.62, who settled thereon the same
year.Source: Page(s) 259-285, History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by
Robert Walker Smith, Esq. Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed December 1998 by Jeffrey Bish for the Armstrong County Smith
Project.
Contributed by Jeffrey Bish for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
(http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
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